Resources were stretched thin, too. A reading recovery program at one Detroit public school was abandoned when "the teachers and materials were removed from the building." That same school -- Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School -- also lacked a certified English teacher for the past two years.

And school leadership, teachers and community partners at Washington Writers' Academy in Kalamazoo had a "blurred and inconsistent approach" to improving student achievement.

Those findings are laid out in a series of reports from the state School Reform Office.

The reports, completed in February but made public by the office this week, provide an overview of each of the 38 schools, which were placed at-risk of closure for placing in the bottom 5 percent of schools statewide for three consecutive years.

They were created to help guide state officials deciding whether any of the 38 schools should be shuttered. But plans for closures were later scrapped in favor of a partnership model led by the Michigan Department of Education mandating improvements over an an 18- and 36-month timeline.

The SRO reports looked at the schools from a variety of standpoints: academic achievement, school culture and climate, and whether strategies were in place to improve student performance. Also examined: whether better options existed if the SRO moved to close the schools.

Officials noted signs of improvement at many of the schools, but significant challenges were present.

In a statement, Kalamazoo Public Schools spokesman Alex Lee said the SRO site visits to two schools in his district - on which the reports were partly based - lasted "about four hours each, which calls into question much about the evaluations."

Two KPS schools - Washington Writers' Academy and Woodward School for Technology and Research - were among the 38 buildings statewide targeted for closure.

The report for Washington noted that "school leadership, community partners, and teacher groups share high expectations for students" and "realize they must do more to increase" students' academic achievement.

But the report also was critical of the school's leadership.

"The fact that you have between 85 % and 95% of students failing all the core content areas over the last three years, seems to be less of a priority than the emotional wellness of students," the report said.

To conduct the reports, two or three officials from the SRO visited each of the 38 schools earlier this year. They conducted interviews with building leadership, focus groups with teachers, students and parents, and conducted a "building walk through" with classroom observations. Academic data also was reviewed.

At Muskegon Heights Academy, officials from the SRO spoke with a community focus group that noted "multiple changes in curriculum (3 times in 4 years) and leadership have been detrimental to students."

Those factors led to "a high teacher turnover rate, up to 40% in previous years," according to the report. However, that "trend is finally starting to taper off." The report also noted that "classroom observations" at the academy "did not reveal rigorous, systematic instruction."

The district's superintendent, Alena Zachery-Ross, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

All but one of the 38 schools at-risk of closure will remain open for at least another 18-months now that partnership agreements have been finalized between the school districts, the Michigan Department of Education and the SRO. The agreements establish an 18- and 36-month timeline under which academic improvements must be made. Schools where improvements don't occur will be subject to further accountability measures, which could include closure.

A partnership with Michigan Technical Academy, a charter school in Detroit, is not expected because the school's authorizer - Central Michigan University - "is in the process of closing the school," MDE says.

The SRO reports were first reported on by The Detroit Free Press, which obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act Request. The state redacted a section of the reports detailing whether the SRO believed the schools could complete a "rapid turnaround" and whether closing the schools would have resulted in an "unreasonable hardship" to displaced students.

Describing why those sections were redacted, Caleb Buhs, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget, which houses the SRO, cited a provision within the FOIA law permitting redactions of "communications and notes" that are of an "advisory nature" and cover "other than purely factual materials and are preliminary to a final agency determination."

Twenty-five of the 38 schools placed at risk of closure are in Detroit. Sixteen of those buildings are part of the city's traditional public school district, one is a charter school and eight are part of the Education Achievement Authority, a district created by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2011 to turnaround the lowest performing schools in the state.

The reports show buildings like Durfee Elementary-Middle School, in north central Detroit, were challenged by a "large homeless and transient population," as well as teacher shortages, staff turnover, "teachers not teaching their content area" and "no instructional specialists."

At other buildings in the district, such as Mason Elementary School, officials noted problems involving student attendance and suspensions.